It’s almost the end of April with only a handful of weeks remaining in our season.  Staff and farmers are scurrying this way and that, preparing for our big fundraiser, planting the last bed, harvesting the last carrots.  We’re on the home stretch and everyone here is tired, and happy, and thinking about summer.  And as we are making plans and budgets and staffing proposals for next season…  I am reminded of the saying “It takes a village to raise a child”.  In our case the “child” is the community organization that we call Sweetwater.

Our community organization is a non-profit farm with a Mission.  As one of the few paid staff members here at the farm, I must consider my specific role and the role of other staff members in fulfilling this Mission.  Specific duties and responsibilities aside, our Mission is the reason we are all here.  So when I read our Mission Statement I know that my job is to “provide an experience”, “serve as a model”, “provide opportunities to participate”, and “foster a sense of community”.

While these may be our big picture goals, they tend to serve as somewhat of a backdrop to the every day busy work of growing healthy food, coordinating people and events, funding and managing an educational program, and serving as a volunteer hub and learning center.

And so we receive Mission reminders and much needed help from our “Village”.  As you must know by now, we rely heavily on our community members for our daily shot in the arm of volunteer enthusiasm, positive vibes, and encouragement to continue this good work.

Most interns and staffers at the Farm will tell you the work is rewarding, but some of the hardest they will do in their lifetime.  The work is fulfilling, but the Village is what they will miss when they take their knowledge and experiences to new places.

And hidden away on a dark Wednesday night, sitting with barely an inch between them at a small wood table, sits a small group of extremely dedicated people eating a potluck of community-grown veggies and talking.  A handful of people that have promised to serve their community on our Board of Directors.  We’d like to take a moment to thank them for all of the work they put into this community, for which they receive no pay… not even a discount on their PestoFesto ticket.  These are just good folks that have taken our Mission to heart and spend hours away from their own work and families to help generate the strategy, planning, know-how, and energy required to run this beautiful, sustainable organization.

In the last couple of years the following folks have really dug deep to make things happen.

Thank you to Board Members; Dan Behrens, Jamie Blessinger, Shawn Landry, Andrew Rock, Tonya Slaton, Cheryl Smith, Christian Wells, and Jamie Wright.

Join the farm community as we enjoy Earth Day with the kids this Sunday.  Rain or shine, we will be here to celebrate Mother Earth.

We are getting ready to transition into the spring crops. Expect your last shares of cabbage and some broccoli and soon we will be seeing some cukes and summer squash. Also this season we are being gifted with some beautiful basil much earlier then any season I have witnessed. If you get more then you need just remember you can make pesto and freeze it in ice-cube trays for later use.

Even though we are still transitioning into spring harvest, we are still working hard on preparing for next fall and next season. We are already planting cover crop or green manure crop on half of the new Children’s Home farm field. This extra work is to ensure a lot of organic matter and nutrients for next fall’s planting which will help us achieve a balance in the soil. We are always working ahead several months to guarantee a successful next season. The covercrop will also protect our delicate soil from the harsh summer sun, emerging weeds, wind erosion and rain erosion.

Please be sure to mark your calendars for two of our upcoming events, Earth Day for Kids on April 22nd and PestoFesto on May 5th. Tickets for Pesto are available on our website for the first time. This is an important fundraiser for the farm and a great opportunity to spend time with our community in a volunteer capacity or just enjoying the event!

And of course we are still accepting applications for our CSA membership from renewing and new members.  We are fast approaching 50% sold already!

Hope everyone is enjoying the season, peace, love, respect and gratitude.

Peaceful greetings Sweetwater Community.

(Please remember the farm will be closed Sunday the 8th for the holiday. Sunday CSA pick-up will take place the day before, on Saturday the 7th from 12:00-4:00.)

The growing season continues with some bounty and some learning experiences. The new Children’s Home field has given us much bounty in its first months of production, but at the same time we are facing challenges that come with growing in a new field. Many challenges come up when growing in a soil which is not yet fertile and balanced in biodiversity. We will achieve this goal after several applications of good organic matter and several incorporations of green cover crops into the soil. One of these challenges is plant viruses which have already devastated our spring tomato and eggplant production. We are already working to resolve this for next season, and this new lesson will only make us better farmers. In the mean time many crops are growing better then expected and we should all enjoy great harvest the remainder of the season. We are almost ready to start harvesting the spring vegetables like cucumber, summer squash, potatoes, basil, peppers and more.

This week we’ll continue with some of the winter crops that will feed us for a little longer this season, like cabbage, carrots and broccoli.

We will have baby Mizuna, this is an Asian green related to Arugula but with less bite. Enjoy in salads, stir-fried or steamed.

The beets have been growing very slow at the new field but are finally ready to harvest. They are delicious and don’t forget to use the greens.

And I can never say enough about Kohlrabi. Never heard of it before I learned to grow it here at Sweetwater but is now one of my favorite farm veggies. Don’t be intimidated, just cut up the bulb and use as raw veggie chips and don’t forget to thinnly slice the leaves and add to your salad for a fresh crunchy texture. Want to get more creative then just “google it” and you will find many recipes, it is a favorite in European cooking. The white and purple varieties have very similar qualities and can be used interchangeably.

I can never thank you all enough for supporting such an environmental, sustainable and community focused form of agriculture. Remember food is medicine and medicine is food.

Happy and healthy eating and living!

Beginning this Sunday, April 1st we will open up memberships to our 2012-2013 CSA Season (pick-ups starting in November 2012) to New Members! We have had a lot of folks eager to get in on the fresh, local, organic veggies this year. We hope that anyone interested in membership will take the time to visit the farm on a Sunday so they can see the membership share pick-up in action, enjoy our Sunday Market and live music, and join our Farm Tour (from 2:00-3:00 this Sunday, April 1st!)

Please mark your calendars for some upcoming important dates:

The CSA share pick-up and our Sunday Market will be closed on Sunday, April 8th for Easter. We are rescheduling the Sunday pick-up for Saturday, April 7th, 12:00-4:00.

Sunday, April 22nd we are having a special kid’s Earth Day event. More details to come very soon.

Saturday, May 5th is our annual PestoFesto event! Don’t miss it, tickets on sale online or buy at the farm.

See you all at the Farm!

Spring officially begins this week which signals a time for growth and renewal for many forms of life, including us humans.  We tend to do our Spring cleaning and really begin our New Year’s resolutions.  We plant our own gardens and flowers and spend more time outdoors enjoying the warmth and beauty that Florida delivers this time of year.

It’s also a time for planning ahead for the summer months and possibly vacations or projects.  Sweetwater Farm will be planning too.  We’re gearing up for the last couple of months of our season and planning fun Earth Day and end of season fun.  Mark your calendars for Earth Day on April 22nd and PestoFesto on May 5th!  Be sure to join us for food, fun, and community.

We’re also planning our upcoming season and setting our budget and looking to our future.  We hope that our current Members are also planning ahead for next season and will be renewing their CSA memberships during this special renewal pricing period (happening now until the end of May).  Remember that all renewal applications need to be in and paid in full by May 31 in order to receive the lower rate.

Please let us know if we can answer any questions or concerns.  And Happy Spring!

It’s been another very busy week as we began accepting Membership Renewals for our CSA for next season.  The Renewal drive is going well and we have received many inquiries already from potential new members!

A few important dates coming up that you may want to mark on your calendars:

We “spring forward” this Sunday for Daylight Savings, so be sure to double check the time before you leave to pick up your share.

We are planning a Kid’s Earth Day event at the farm on Earth Day, Sunday, April 22nd.  More details to come, hope you will consider bringing your family and joining the celebration with us.  Lots of fun things for the kids to do, and music too!

We have set the date for our 20th (yes 20th!) Annual PestoFesto for Saturday, May 5th.  It’s going to be a great evening of fresh Pesto pasta, local beer, and the Urban Gypsies will be rockin’ us into the night again this year!  Tickets will be available online this year.  We are in need of silent auction and raffle items to be donated.  And we will also begin signing up volunteers for the event.  If you haven’t had time to do your volunteer hours this season, the Pesto event is a good time to do them.  More details forthcoming….

Enjoy your share this week!

This week’s share has plenty of color varieties to make all your dishes look like rainbows! Have fun mixing all the different lettuces and adding tasty greens like fennel, rainbow chard and spinach. The cabbage crop has finally come in, we’ll be harvesting some green and some savoy cabbage this week and hopefully more to come. These are medium size but very tasty, enjoy. We have some more Hakurei Turnips this week, use them in any kind of dish. Just don’t forget to use the nutritious and vitamin C-rich leaves.

One of the most rewarding tasks at our new farm is weeding. Because we are starting from scratch, this means that if we do not allow any of the exsisting weeds to flower or seed, then it will get to a point where there is no longer weed seeds in the soil. Many gardners say that it takes 7 years to use up all the seeds stored in the soil then you have a weedless farm. It tickles me to think about a farm without weeding, so many extra projects we could tackle! This is our goal at the Children’s Home farm, come and help us make it a reality!

Don’t be nervous about volunteering, just come hang out with some nice people in a beautiful place and help grow healthy organic food in a way that is respectful to the Earth. If you have many gardening questions, just join in with the farmers, we love to talk about growing food! Remember that farming is something that can be shared by people of any age and any background, food brings us all together.

CSA Member Renewals begin this week.  We sure hope you will join us again next season.  Peace

Hope everyone has been enjoying the recent increase in the number of items in the CSA share. This is the result of an incredible effort to get our new farm site up and running during this summer, fall and winter season. We started this summer (from scratch) after learning that we would no longer be using land at the Bern’s farm to grow food for our CSA. Fortunately all our efforts paid off since the crops are growing very well. One of the main responsibilities in organic agriculture is to build a healthy, biodiverse soil in which the plants can thrive. It has taken trucking hundreds of tons of our farm-made compost to the new site, putting in miles of irrigation and digging two ponds and a swale system to keep the fields from flooding. All of this while planting, weeding and harvesting for the CSA. Thank you to all our supporting members and many volunteers whom have stuck with us through one of our most challenging years. This shows the importance of community supported agriculture as a truly sustainable food system. One of the main ideals behind a CSA is that the consumer and the farmer both share the bounties as well as the inherent risks of agriculture. This became especially true this season because without your support this farm would have not been able to continue operating. Thank you!

Many of the vegetables and herbs we have all been enjoying this past month have been grown at the new farm site at The Children’s Home. Also many of the spring crops we’ll enjoy towards the end of the season are already growing there. We already planted our tomato and eggplant crops and they are growing well (even though they got slightly shocked by the unexpected cold a week and a half ago). We are giving them some special organic fertilizers to help give them an extra boost. Also the potatoes are sprouting very nicely in their furrows, we should be enjoying them sometime in mid April and May. This week we hope to plant our first of two batches of squashes and cucumbers. Like the tomatoes, we water these using drip irrigation. This is a way to keep moisture off of their sensitive leaves and avoid fungus and other leaf diseases.

This week we expect to continue harvesting broccoli and lots of lettuce. Both of these might be a little smaller then we hoped, this is because of the warmer weather we’ve been having. They are still looking good and tasting very delicious. We are also harvesting Joi Choi which is my favorite kind of Bok Choy. The crunchy stems can be eaten raw in a salad or as a refreshing snack, try spreading nut butter and dry fruit on them. The new planting of bulbing Fennel is ready as well, the entire plant is edible and delicious. My little farm girls love to eat the leaves raw. Also try adding them to your salads for a nice anise flavor or make a cup of fennel-leaf tea for a digestive aid. The bulbs are great in root bakes or stir-fries.

Thanks again for your support, Sweetwater is a true model of local sustainable, organic agriculture.

Peace

On Saturday we had our first Farm to Table Supper.  With the help of the good folks at Whole Foods Market in Tampa, we served 130 people a nutrient-dense, whole food, vegan meal featuring veggies from our farm.  The Naked Grape wine flowed, beautiful music from Juniper entertained, inspiring words and enjoyable conversation took place while sharing a cup of locally-roasted organic coffee from Java Planet.  It was chilly, but as usual, our members, visitors, staff, and volunteers huddled together and created a warmth that only a tight-knit community can cultivate.  As we closed the evening, many folks shouted for more.

And so we begin our plans for next season.  We encourage our Members to plan ahead as well.  CSA Renewal Memberships will go on sale March 1st, just around the corner.  During the month of March, current CSA members will have the first opportunity to join us again for the 2012-2013 season.  Beginning April 1st, we will open membership to the public.  If our waiting list from last year is any indication, we can expect to sell all of our 200 memberships by the end of this season (end of May).

More information and applications will be coming your way soon…

It’s hard to believe that half of our season is already behind us.  We have received much encouragement and support from many of our members, as well as important feedback.  As we think ahead to next season (and the CSA pricing info that will be available on our website in March), we calculate how we have done so far.  We scrutinize our expenses and pour over programs to determine the best and most responsible ways to expand our reach and to serve the members, volunteers, and farmers that have acted as the backbone of our community.  We hope that you too will consider the benefits and drawbacks of your membership with us.  Choosing to join a CSA is a big financial and emotional commitment.  Taking time from your busy life to travel to the farm to pick up your veggies and planning your meals to best utilize the offerings in your share takes dedication, planning, and flexibility.  It’s not for everyone.  Eating seasonally and locally from a relatively small urban farm close to where you live requires a certain amount of willful enthusiasm for all that is fresh and good.

Whether or not this season’s members will choose to embark on another farm to their fork adventure will depend on their willingness and ability to adapt to the constraints and limitations of a single farm.  If history is any indication, about a quarter of you will leave for greener pastures making room for new members to give this crunchy lifestyle a try.  But the majority of you will commit to return for another season.  And for those returning members, the healthy soil of Sweetwater Farm will sustain another season of growth, and the veggies and the people will flourish.

Peaceful Greetings,

The last couple of weeks we’ve had a surge of school-aged children taking part in our field trip program at the farm.  We’ve watched these kids touching, smelling and tasting the beautiful veggies, herbs (and weeds!) that grow here.  By the end of the trip, the kids have grown too.  They’ve learned where good, healthy, local, organic food comes from and how it helps us all.  They have planted seeds, harvested a salad, soaked up information on composting, and enjoyed being a “farmer for a day”.  Your continued support of our farm brings the necessary funds to continue these important programs.  Join us for our first Farm to Table Supper on the 11th of this month and enjoy a wonderful meal while helping to further our outreach and educational opportunities.

We are getting really close to saying good bye to one of our long time growing site, the Bern’s Steak House farm. We still plan to harvest one more week’s worth of Daikon Radish, two week’s of carrots and some beets. We have enjoyed our time growing on such fertile organic soil for these past years and thank the folks at Bern’s for this unique opportunity.

The harvest at the new farm continues, this week we will harvest some nice looking lettuce and continue to harvest radishes and some mizuna from the Children’s Home farm. Get ready for some tasty salads!

Last week our neighbor shared some pickled Daikon Radish with the farm crew, it was delicious and a great example of how to preserve excess share items. There are many recipes on line, this week we will harvest the roots without the greens.

Also, the broccoli and cabbage are beginning to be ready this week. It has taken a while due to this mild winter but they are looking and tasting great. My little farm girls give their approval! We expect more to come in the following weeks.

The later start on the harvest is just a reminder of how susceptible our food production is to the weather patterns. Every season holds new surprises, let’s embrace them, happy seasonal eating!

The Spring Potatoes are in the ground at the new Children’s Home field. We were able to plant them last Sunday after the harvest, just on time thanks to our amazing and dedicated Sweetwater Farming team who put in a very long and difficult work day! Thank you among others to Casey, Zachary, Alberto, Phil, Brian, Mari, Stephanie, Josh, Rebbecca and Courtney for being such important parts of this team. I get to constantly witness and be a part of many amazing agricultural feats at this farm, what a pleasure!

So now that the certified organic seed potatoes are in the ground, we need to wait about 3 weeks for them to sprout while we keep them weeded, and then begin to ‘hill’ them to encourage root growth. This year we planted many varieties; Yukon Gold, Rose Finn Swedish Fingerlings, Praire Blush, King Harry, Island Sunshine and Butte. We should be enjoying some delicous white, gold, pink and russet tators toward the end of the harvest season.

This week in your share find some young tender Mizuna, this Asian green is similar to arugula but with less bite. Great as a substitute for lettuce in salads or sandwiches and also taste great in stir-fries, or steamed over mashed potatoes or fish. This cut will be especially mild tasting because of how young the plants are and the cool weather in which they grew.

This week we will also harvest Eros Endive, this is a plant in the Chickory family, slightly bitter but very rich in many vitamins and minerals. Excellent addition to a mixed salad with other sweeter ingredients like mizuna.

The radishes this week are the second crop we are harvesting from the Children’s Home field. The greens are looking pretty healthy and are a great cooking green that can be used in stir-fries, soups or beans. Also very delicious in a green smoothies, remember radish greens are food too, don’t let them go to waste.

Hope everyone is enjoying the share vegetables this season. The farm team has been enjoying growing the vegetables and being part of this conscious sustainable community. Most of the varieties we grow are things that have grown well here over the past 15 years during specific times of the season. Some are not common vegetables but all are seasonal varieties specific to this Tampa Bay growing environment. During some growing seasons, some varieties grow better then others. This season Hakurei Turnips and Daikon Radish take the prize, but have performed poorly in previous seasons. By focusing on the vegetables that grow well here during the time of year they grow the best, we can utilize our soil in a more sustainable way and enrich it every season instead of depleting it. Since I arrived at Sweetwater six growing seasons ago, I have been exposed to and learned to grow and cook with many vegetables I had never heard of. Learning how to use these to keep my family happy and healthy has been the greatest reward of being part of this local, sustainable, organic community. I encourage all of you to experiment and be creative with your food. If your veggies are in season and grow good together, they probably go good together in the kitchen, so lets let nature be our guide. And remember that we are in a technological world so when you don’t know what to do with all those strange vegetables, just ‘Google it’. Peace

This week we are harvesting baby arugula from our new farm at The Children’s Home!  We are very excited to begin harvesting, things are growing very well at the new farm site, almost half the field is planted or ready to plant. We are now working hard to prepare the other half which will produce our spring potatoes among other things.

There’s been a little confusion – our new farm at The Children’s Home simply adds to the land that we have available to grow organic veggies for our members.  It is not open to the public (unless you accompany us there to help in the fields).  All of our main operations will remain at our Sweetwater Farm on Comanche Avenue as usual.

In the share this week is beet greens. We are working on thinning the beets bed in order to allow the remaining beets time and space to grow a large root. This method allows us to harvest two crops from one planting. Beet greens are delicious fresh in salads, sandwiches, juiced or as a cooking green. They are very high in vitamins K and A as well as antioxidants.

New in the share this week is Florence Fennel also known by its Italian name Finocchio, a highly aromatic Mediterranean herb which has a bulb that can be used as a vegetable. Try the bulb sliced in a salad, grilled, sauteed or baked. The leaves give an anise flavor to salads, juice or teas and act as a digestive aid.

Last week the Broccoli Raab was finally ready to harvest, sorry for all the false alarms in the past CSA share lists, it just grew slower then expected. Remember that all parts including stems, leaves and flowers can be eaten raw or cooked and can substitute broccoli in most recipes.

We still have some Daikon radish growing in the fields, it did much better then expected and loves growing during this cooler weather. The leaves are an excellent cooking green very high in vitamin A, while the root which can be eaten raw has a high amount of vitamin C. The roots are great shredded and placed over a salad, or in a veggie wrap, or try just cutting them into raw chips.

Enjoy creative seasonal cooking,

Peace

Transition is taking place this week and the next few weeks from the Bern’s farm we have called home for years, to our new farm at The Children’s Home.  Since this summer the farmers have been working diligently to clear the land, set up watering and drainage systems, prepare the soil, and plant the first seeds.  In just a few weeks we will be harvesting the last of the Bern’s crops and will begin harvesting the beautiful veggies that are thriving in their new home.

Expect to see some vibrant arugula, mizuna, cabbage, radish, broccoli and cauliflower in the coming months.

We are thankful and grateful for our time at Bern’s, and happy to be settling in to our new location.  Our farm at The Children’s Home still needs work and your thoughtful donations bring us ever-closer to completion.  If you would like more information about how you can help, please Contact Us.

It’s been a nice holiday season with a little time off to spend with our families and friends.  We hope you have enjoyed the start of the New Year too.  The recent cooler weather makes it finally feel like winter and prompted us to cover the crops over night to avoid any potential damage.

With the cooler weather we rely on our Member volunteers to come out to the farm and help.  Volunteerism generally slows down in the cooler months, but the work that needs to be completed at the farm remains the same.  Consider joining us on a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday to help out in the fields and washing veggies.

We very much look forward to a wonderful 2012 with our Sweetwater community… here’s to a peaceful and bountiful New Year!

Enjoy some healthy exercise for your body and your brain, and have fun in the dirt!  Come help us this Thursday and Saturday mornings to harvest for the last shares of the 2011 year. (Remember, there is no CSA pick-up or Market on Sunday – New Year’s Day).

Thursday and Saturday we will gather at the Sweetwater barn at 8:30am and then head out to harvest. Good way to meet wonderful people, learn about how your food is grown and get some productive exercise. If you have young children, bring them out to join in on the fun, growing food and community is a family affair.

This week we are continuing to harvest the Joi Choi, this is the white-stemmed Bok Choy. This delicious choy has juicy crunchy stems that are great raw for dipping in hummus or spreading with nut butters. Also fantastic in stir fries, salads or use the leaves as a wrap. And finally the cilantro is ready to harvest, I’m especially excited since I use this herb in all of my cooking.

Happy new year to all, wishing you much Peace and Love.

This week we’ll have one big CSA pick-up on Thursday for our normal Thursday members and also our Sunday members.  Come between 12:00-6:00 for your share.  Come early at 8:30 and help us with the harvest and washing too!

Our Sunday Market will be closed on Christmas Day, the 25th.  And again the next Sunday for New Year’s Day.  It will re-open on Sunday, January 8th with great local live music, awesome vendors, and our Farm Tour with Joel from 2:00-3:00.

We appreciate each and every one of you and hope that you have a happy, healthy holiday.

What are those giant white roots? The word Daikon comes from two Japanese words meaning “large root”. We are having a very bountiful harvest of this crop. The roots can be eaten raw or cooked or can be pickled for later use. The leaves are very nutritious and can be used as cooking greens.

This week we will begin to harvest the Broccoli Raab, also known as Rapini in Italian cooking. We will begin by harvesting the tops of the plant which include leaves, stems and flower buds. All parts are used in cooking, adding a broccoli flavor to foods, and can be used as a substitute for broccoli in many recipes. This week we’ll also begin harvesting fresh mint. Enjoy as a digestive aid tea, in salad dressings, dessert recipes or for mojitos. Cheers!